Creating backyard room designs is the new norm

Lounging and entertaining - easy to imagine on this sectional from Andrew Richard Designs above - are taking over dining functions.

Photograph by: Handout photo
, Andrew Richard Designs

There was a time the backyard was considered "done" when it had a barbecue, a picnic table and a few folding chairs. Oh, and maybe a couple of tiki lamps if you wanted to go all fancy.

But now, technological advances and changes in the way we live are combining to transform outdoor living space into something that can almost properly be called a room, with comfortable furniture and defined limits — perhaps even curtained "walls".

Several of those trends were on display at the recent Interior Design Show in Toronto, where furniture and accessories for outdoor living were more about beauty, functionality and design than just plain old practicality.

"The design of outdoor rooms and outdoor spaces is something that is really on the steep end of the growth curve," says Khai Foo of Paloform (paloform.com), a Toronto-based company that specializes in "expressive, modern fireplaces."

Foo points to HGTV, the home and garden television channel, as the spark that started the trend. By broadcasting shows about design, HGTV has broadened knowledge of — and interest in — design. After a few years of concentrating on the inside of the home, interest is moving to a previously overlooked area, the outdoors, where attention is now being focused on furniture and accessories instead of just landscape and gardens.

"People who make products for outdoors have now realized there's a huge potential for creating products for the outdoors, from kitchens to living areas," adds Foo.

For several years now, the outdoor cooking area has evolved beyond a barbecue to include refrigeration and food prep areas.

But Andrew Bockner of Toronto's Andrew Richard Designs (andrewricharddesigns.com), a company that sells outdoor furniture, says one of the big trends in outdoor living is a move away from eating.

"Lounging and entertaining are taking over dining functions," he says, adding he now has many clients who say they'll put in a dining table only if they feel they have the room. It's not a priority.

Bockner says some big technological advances are being made in furniture, fabrics, cushions and drapery destined to be used outdoors, making furniture and lounging more appealing.

Increasingly, it's possible to find things that can be left outdoors year-round — cushions that can handle getting rained on in summer and furniture that survives the snow and ice of winter.

For example, there are now cushions, he says, designed so that 95 per cent of the moisture that falls on them drains right through and acrylic fabrics that don't fade or mildew.

"We've come a long way with fabrics," he says. "The evolution of the outdoor room over the last five or 10 years is unbelievable! The great thing about products that are available right now is that they are getting better and better. There are more options and more flexibility as to what you can do."

Bockner says his firm has furniture that comes with a seven-year guarantee against deterioration even if you don't take it inside in winter. Some new materials don't even have to be covered up in the winter, he adds.

"You are going to pay a bit more money for products you can leave outside year-round," he says. "But you can leave them outside and uncovered. It's nice to be able to have products that can survive the Canadian winter."

Fire features are a staple of outdoor rooms, but today's fire features are getting a more modern edge.

Paloform's products, for example, are an updated, revised and way-cool version of the old fire pit. Today's pit may have a metal or concrete base with a certain sculptural quality that looks good even when nothing's burning.

"We design nice clean visuals that contain the fire," says Foo.

And the fire itself is just as likely to come from natural gas, propane or ethanol as from plain old logs.

Foo says some of his fire pits are designed to sit on wooden decks, which gives the homeowner some design options.

While a fire pit is often the focal point of outdoor design, one of the trends right now is going beyond that by creating defined limits to outdoor spaces.

This can be done on the ground, by laying an outdoor carpet over a defined portion of the patio, for example, or by erecting a structure — an arbour, perhaps — over top. And there may be more than one outdoor "room," with one section for reading and another for socializing.

Bockner says a lot of people are creating a pavilion, a structure with a proper roof and curtains or mosquito nets as the walls. This makes the room usable when it rains and also — if you add heaters — by extending the season so you sit outdoors earlier in the spring and later in the fall.

Or you can erect an awning. The Montreal-based company Jardin de Ville (jardindeville.com) has a line of tent-like outdoor shelters that offer shade and protection from rain. Company president Johanne Bourque adds that one of the advantages of putting up an awning is that even if your furniture is rainproof, it's nice to have protection against dirt, dust or calling cards left by overflying birds.

Bourque agrees with Bockner that defining zones helps make designing an outdoor room a success. But they disagree about colour.

Bourque prefers low-key colours and simple lines or perhaps extending to the outdoors the colours of your indoor decor.

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